Peace to all the mothers reading this. Happy Mother’s Day! Thanks for all that you do!
I owe so much to my mother! God bless mom!
And then my spiritual Mother! The Blessed Virgin Mary! I’ll be posting about Mary’s Spiritual Motherhood next time. Right now, since it is Pentecost, i want to share about how she exercised her spiritual motherhood in preparing the Apostles and disciples for Pentecost:
Excerpts from past writings
It is very important to acknowlege the presence of Mary at Pentecost. She was in the midst of the Apostles and disciples waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:14 “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
We see the Mother of the Lord by Her prayers imploring the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who descended upon the community in the Upper Room at Pentecost is He Who already overshadowed the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called holy,
the Son of God.'”Luke 2:35
The Blessed Virgin was prepared by Her unique experience and so She prepares the Apostles and the disciples for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Pope John Paul II [the Great] in a Wed. Audience in 1997 said the following:
During that prayer in the Upper Room, in an attitude of deep communion with the Apostles, with some women and with Jesus’ “brethren”, the Mother of the Lord prays for the gift of the Spirit for herself and for the community.
It was appropriate that the first out pouring of the Spirit upon her, which had happened in view of her divine motherhood, should be repeated and reinforced. Indeed, at the foot of the Cross Mary was entrusted with a new motherhood, which concerned Jesus’ disciples. It was precisely this mission that demanded a renewed gift of the Spirit. The Blessed Virgin therefore wanted it for the fruitfulness of her spiritual motherhood.
Mary’s prayer has particular significance in the Christian community: it fosters the coming of the Spirit, imploring his action in the hearts of the disciples and in the world. Just as in the Incarnation the Spirit had formed the physical body of Christ in her virginal womb, now in the Upper Room the same Spirit comes down to give life to the Mystical Body.
Thus Pentecost is also a fruit of the Blessed Virgin’s incessant prayer, which is accepted by the Paraclete with special favour because it is an expression of her motherly love for the Lord’s disciples.
In contemplating Mary’s powerful intercession as she waits for the Holy Spirit, Christians of every age have frequently had recourse to her intercession on the long and tiring journey to salvation, in order to receive the gifts of the Paraclete in greater abundance.
The Holy Spirit is changing us into Christ Himself! He overshadowed Mary and formed Christ in Her womb. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes, Mary is present, and Christ is formed again. The first was the birth of the Head– Christ; the second was the birth of the Members of the Mystical Body of Christ. That is why Jesus gave His Mother to us and that is how she is really our Mother too. And Mary intercedes for us like at Cana and our hearts are filled with the Wine that is the Holy Spirit. Then we will be overflowing onto others for the greatest glory of God!
So we pray: Come Holy Spirit, come by the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary Your inseparable Spouse!